Isaiah 30
30
Warnings to the Stubborn Nation
1The Lord said,
“How terrible it will be for these stubborn children.
They make plans, but they don’t ask me to help them.
They make agreements with other nations, without asking my Spirit.
They are adding more and more sins to themselves.
2They go down to Egypt for help
without asking me about it first.
They hope they will be saved by the king of Egypt;
they want Egypt to protect them.
3But hiding in Egypt will bring you only shame;
Egypt’s protection will only disappoint you.
4Your officers have gone to Zoan,
and your messengers have gone to Hanes,
5but they will be put to shame,
because Egypt is useless to them.
It will give no help and will be of no use;
it will cause them only shame and embarrassment.”
God’s Message to Judah
6This is a message about the animals in southern Judah:
Southern Judah is a dangerous place
full of lions and lionesses,
poisonous snakes and darting snakes.
The messengers travel through there with their wealth on the backs of donkeys
and their treasure on the backs of camels.
They carry them to a nation that cannot help them,
7to Egypt whose help is useless.
So I call that country Rahab the Do-Nothing.
8Now write this on a sign for the people,
write this on a scroll,
so that for the days to come
this will be a witness forever.
9These people are like children who lie and refuse to obey;
they refuse to listen to the Lord’s teachings.
10They tell the seers,
“Don’t see any more visions!”
They say to the prophets,
“Don’t tell us the truth!
Say things that will make us feel good;
see only good things for us.
11Stop blocking our path.
Get out of our way.
Stop telling us
about God, the Holy One of Israel.”
12So this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“You people have refused to accept this message
and have depended on cruelty and lies to help you.
13You are guilty of these things.
So you will be like a high wall with cracks in it
that falls suddenly and breaks into small pieces.
14You will be like a clay jar that breaks,
smashed into many pieces.
Those pieces will be too small
to take coals from the fire
or to get water from a well.”
15This is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“If you come back to me and trust me, you will be saved.
If you will be calm and trust me, you will be strong.”
But you don’t want to do that.
16You say, “No, we need horses to run away on.”
So you will run away on horses.
You say, “We will ride away on fast horses.”
So those who chase you will be fast.
17One enemy will make threats,
and a thousand of your men will run away.
Five enemies will make threats,
and all of you will run from them.
You will be left alone like a flagpole on a hilltop,
like a banner on a hill.
18The Lord wants to show his mercy to you.
He wants to rise and comfort you.
The Lord is a fair God,
and everyone who waits for his help will be happy.
The Lord Will Help His People
19You people who live on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will not cry anymore. The Lord will hear your crying, and he will comfort you. When he hears you, he will help you. 20The Lord has given you sorrow and hurt like the bread and water you ate every day. He is your teacher; he will not continue to hide from you, but you will see your teacher with your own eyes. 21If you go the wrong way—to the right or to the left—you will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the right way. You should go this way.” 22You have statues covered with silver and gold, but you will ruin them for further use. You will throw them away like filthy rags and say, “Go away!”
23At that time the Lord will send rain for the seeds you plant in the ground, and the ground will grow food for you. The harvest will be rich and great, and you will have plenty of food in the fields for your animals. 24Your oxen and donkeys that work the soil will have all the food they need. You will have to use shovels and pitchforks to spread all their food. 25Every mountain and hill will have streams filled with water. These things will happen after many people are killed and the towers are pulled down. 26At that time the light from the moon will be bright like the sun, and the light from the sun will be seven times brighter than now, like the light of seven days. These things will happen when the Lord bandages his broken people and heals the hurts he gave them.
27Look! The Lord comes from far away.
His anger is like a fire with thick clouds of smoke.
His mouth is filled with anger,
and his tongue is like a burning fire.
28His breath is like a rushing river,
which rises to the throat.
He will judge the nations as if he is sifting them through the strainer of destruction.
He will place in their mouths a bit that will lead them the wrong way.
29You will sing happy songs
as on the nights you begin a festival.
You will be happy like people listening to flutes
as they come to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Rock of Israel.
30The Lord will cause all people to hear his great voice
and to see his powerful arm come down with anger,
like a great fire that burns everything,
like a great storm with much rain and hail.
31Assyria will be afraid when it hears the voice of the Lord,
because he will strike Assyria with a rod.
32When the Lord punishes Assyria with a rod,
he will beat them to the music of tambourines and harps;
he will fight against them with his mighty weapons.
33Topheth has been made ready for a long time;
it is ready for the king.
It was made deep and wide
with much wood and fire.
And the Lord’s breath will come
like a stream of burning sulfur and set it on fire.
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Isaiah 30: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 30
30
Condemnation of the Egyptian Alliance
1Woe to the rebellious children!#Dt 21:18–21; Is 1:2,23; 30:9; 65:2
This is the Lord’s declaration.
They carry out a plan,#Is 29:15 but not mine;
they make an alliance,
but against my will,
piling sin on top of sin.
2Without asking my advice
they set out to go down to Egypt#Is 31:1; Jr 43:7
in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection
and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow.#Is 36:9
3But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame,
and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your humiliation.#Is 20:5–6; 36:6; Jr 42:18,22
4For though his#30:4 Or Judah’s princes are at Zoan#Is 19:11
and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,
5everyone will be ashamed
because of a people who can’t help.
They are of no benefit, they are no help;
they are good for nothing but shame and disgrace.#Jr 2:36
6A pronouncement#Is 13:1 concerning the animals of the Negev:#30:6 Or Southland
Through a land of trouble and distress,
of lioness and lion,
of viper and flying serpent,#Dt 8:15
they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys
and their treasures on the humps of camels,
to a people who will not help them.
7Egypt’s help is completely worthless;
therefore, I call her:
Rahab Who Just Sits.#Ps 87:4; 89:10; Is 51:9; Ezk 29:3,7
8Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence
and inscribe it on a scroll;
it will be for the future,
forever and ever.
9They are a rebellious people,
deceptive children,#Is 30:1
children who do not want to listen to the Lord’s instruction.
10They say to the seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets,
“Do not prophesy the truth to us.
Tell us flattering things.#1Kg 22:8,13; Jr 6:14; 23:17,26; Ezk 13:8–16; Rm 16:18; 2Tm 4:3–4
Prophesy illusions.
11Get out of the way!
Leave the pathway.
Rid us of the Holy One of Israel.”#Is 1:4; 41:14–20; 43:14; 45:11; 48:17; 49:7; 54:5; 55:5; 60:9,14
12Therefore the Holy One of Israel says:
“Because you have rejected this message
and have trusted in oppression and deceit,
and have depended on them,
13this iniquity#Is 13:11 of yours will be
like a crumbling gap,
a bulge in a high wall
whose collapse will come in an instant — suddenly!
14Its collapse will be like the shattering
of a potter’s jar,#Ps 2:9; Jr 19:10–11 crushed to pieces,
so that not even a fragment of pottery
will be found among its shattered remains —
no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth
or scoop water from a cistern.”
15For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said:
“You will be delivered by returning and resting;
your strength will lie in quiet confidence.
But you are not willing.”
16You say, “No!
We will escape on horses” —
therefore you will escape! —
and, “We will ride on fast horses” —
but those who pursue you will be faster.#Is 31:1,3
17One thousand will flee at the threat of one,#Lv 26:36; Dt 28:25; 32:30; Jos 23:10; Pr 28:1
at the threat of five you will flee,
until you remain
like a solitary pole on a mountaintop
or a banner on a hill.
The Lord’s Mercy to Israel
18Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy,
and is rising up to show you compassion,#2Pt 3:9
for the Lord is a just God.
All who wait patiently for him are happy.
19For people will live on Zion in Jerusalem. You will never weep again; he will show favor to you at the sound of your outcry; as soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression,#1Kg 22:27; Ps 80:5 but your Teacher#30:20 Or teachers will not hide any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher, 21and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”#Is 35:8–9 22Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.
23Then he will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.#Ps 144:13; Is 32:20; Hs 4:16 24The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel#Mt 3:12 and fork. 25Streams flowing with water will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall. 26The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter#Is 24:23; 60:19–20; Rv 21:23; 22:5 — like the light of seven days — on the day#Mt 25:13 that the Lord bandages his people’s injuries and heals the wounds he inflicted.#Is 33:24; Jr 33:6; Hs 6:1–2
Annihilation of the Assyrians
27Look! The name of the Lord is coming from far away,
his anger burning and heavy with smoke.#30:27 Hb obscure
His lips are full of fury,
and his tongue is like a consuming fire.
28His breath is like an overflowing torrent#Is 11:4; 30:33; 2Th 2:8
that rises to the neck.#Is 8:8
He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction
and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples
to lead them astray.#2Kg 19:28; Is 37:29
29Your singing will be like that
on the night of a holy festival,
and your heart will rejoice
like one who walks to the music of a flute,
going up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Rock of Israel.#Is 8:14; 26:4
30And the Lord will make the splendor of his voice heard
and reveal his arm#Ex 6:6; Dt 4:34; Jb 40:9; Is 53:1; Jr 32:17; Ezk 20:33 striking in angry wrath
and a flame of consuming fire,
in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.
31Assyria will be shattered by the voice of the Lord.
He will strike with a rod.
32And every stroke of the appointed#30:32 Some Hb mss read punishing staff
that the Lord brings down on him
will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres;
he will fight against him with brandished weapons.
33Indeed! Topheth has been ready#2Kg 23:10; Jr 7:31; 19:6
for the king for a long time.
Its funeral pyre is deep and wide,
with plenty of fire and wood.
The breath of the Lord,#Is 40:7 like a torrent of burning sulfur,
kindles it.
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